Yuriko Akishima's "Yukio Ninagawa and Shakespeare" Summary and Impressions - Recommended book summarizing Ninagawa's Shakespearean stage productions.
I would like to introduce "Yukio Ninagawa and Shakespeare" by Yuriko Akishima, published by KADOKAWA in 2015.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
Tatsuya Fujiwara Hamlet" and "Hiroshi Abe Brutus" ......The new NINAGAWA Shakespeare plays are a collaboration across cultures and eras without changing the dialogue at all. A record of all 26 titles and episodes from the passionate half-century of challenges and episodes.
"Should I live or should I die?" Who are you?" The new Ninagawa Shakespeare plays transcend culture and time. A complete record of the unprecedented and fearless production that breathed new life into a classic. Yukio Ninagawa is acclaimed worldwide for his modern revival of Shakespeare. This book recounts the challenges and episodes of his passionate half-century, as recounted by a journalist who served as his exclusive interpreter and witnessed his activities up close and personal. A must-read for theater fans! Includes synopses of all 26 titles, performance data, and rare photos.
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This book is a work that looks at Shakespeare's works directed by Yukio Ninagawa with commentary. In this work, you can learn about episodes from the stage production and about Ninagawa's direction.
The book describes the book and Ninagawa's direction as follows at the end of the book.
Since Yukio Ninagawa staged "NINAGAWA Macbeth" at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1980, the London productions of "Hamlet" and "Kafka by the Sea" by Haruki Murakami this May marked the 30th anniversary of the play's UK premiere. It is a hurdle for British people, who view everything mainly in English, to watch foreign-language versions of Shakespeare's plays and films with subtitles, let alone those in English. Considering this, it is amazing that a play by a Japanese-language director has lasted this long.
The reason why Ninagawa Shakespeare took root among theater-loving Britons was first of all because the story unfolded in a visually appealing beauty, and the brilliant stage production backed up the dialogues and actions with music and sound effects made the audience gasp. Especially in the early days, starting with Edinburgh, there were no subtitles in theaters, so the element of spectacle that could be seen with the eyes was even more important.
But that is not enough to keep it going this long. One of the secrets of Ninagawa's success is the magic of "frame-making. If the curtain opens with a backstage scene of bare-faced Japanese in makeup, and the audience is told that this is a Western play performed by Japanese, Westerners, bound by realism, will be convinced. Even a ridiculous romance drama in which coincidences overlap and everyone is happy can be understood as an illusion if the audience is told, before and after the story, that it is a dream story that people dare to create in a miserable battlefield. In "NINAGAWA Macbeth," which caused a sensation above all else, two old women, in other words, living witnesses, were placed on either side of the cruel story of a warlord that unfolds in a Buddhist altar, and they watched the whole scene. The tragedy will not be buried in the long history of the world, but will continue to be told in all ages.
Furthermore, Ninagawa's overall goal is to make the story clear and easy to understand. Shakespeare's plays have many characters and complex stories, and there is much that is confusing even when viewed in one's native language. Ninagawa's approach is to make the plot clear and visually clear by color-coding the opposing sides, contrasting the good guys and the bad guys with clear facial expressions, and projecting the class system onto the grand staircase. Once the basic flow of the plot is easily grasped, the audience will be able to feel the various thoughts and situations shared by all human beings, and enjoy the actors' performances and the development of the stage with a sense of ease.
This is true no matter whether the audience is Japanese, British, or from any other country. Ninagawa's world-renowned plays were born because of this understanding of universal stage design that can be understood by everyone. This is the reason why British audiences are drawn to see Ninagawa's plays even if they have to read subtitles, which they are not accustomed to.
In preparing this book, I have tried to explore what "Ninagawa Shakespearean theory" means by quoting as many of Ninagawa's own words as possible, which he himself wrote or co-authored, and which he discussed in newspapers, magazines, performance programs, and other media at the time of the production. Therefore, this is not a memoir looking back on the past, but rather an attempt to recreate Ninagawa's philosophy and challenges in the midst of the production, in other words, in real time.
KADOKAWA, Akishima Yuriko, "Ninagawa Yukio and Shakespeare," p. 232-234.
As you can see from this quote, the book explains the characteristics of Ninagawa's production very clearly.
It is also a pleasure to hear many of Ninagawa's sharp words.
A play is all about information that comes to you through your eyes and ears. I think people who have not read the play come to see it and leave saying, 'Oh, that was interesting. It's not like studying history in a play. I think what makes theater different from literature is that you can't read it back. You can't just flip back to the page and say, 'I didn't understand that part, so let's go back to the previous page.' ...... That's why I'm trying to keep to a field-oriented approach. I try to be mindful of the events that are happening so that I can carefully hand over the actors' words and visuals. For the audience, Shakespeare is not something to be learned.
KADOKAWA, Akishima Yuriko, Yukio Ninagawa and Shakespeare, p. 70
LastFor audiences, Shakespeare is not something to be learned."This was particularly poignant to me. I felt that Ninagawa's message was that Shakespeare may have an image of being difficult, but that it should be enjoyed in a more easygoing way. I also felt that Ninagawa-san places great importance on creating such performances.
This is a book by Yoshio Nakano, which has been featured on this blog beforeShakespeare's Funniest."It is also connected to the
Putting aside all the small details for the time being, first of all, enjoy Shakespeare in a carefree manner. The audience at the time when Shakespeare was alive enjoyed the plays in such a carefree manner, laughing and giggling. So why don't we enjoy Shakespeare's plays in the same carefree way? And it was Ninagawa who aimed to create Shakespearean plays that anyone could enjoy.
And the episodes of each production are so interesting that you will want to actually see that play. This book will give you an insight into the depth of theater production and the fun of Shakespeare's works.
I am also watching a little bit of Shakespeare directed by Ninagawa-san on DVD. It is very interesting. I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could have seen it live.
This is a gratifying overview of Ninagawa's Shakespeare. We encourage you to pick up a copy.
The above is "Yuriko Akishima's "Yukio Ninagawa and Shakespeare" - a recommended book that summarizes Ninagawa's Shakespearean stage productions.
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